a path less travelled
by SkyGem
Summary: "A cursed, unnatural place," his father says with a sniff of disdain. "To this day, the townspeople and the youkai live alongside one another in "peace"." Two-shot. No pairings. Everyone-can-see-youkai-au. Secret Santa 2017 gift for renkocchi on tumblr.


Summary: "A cursed, unnatural place," his father says with a sniff of disdain. "It was a town as normal as the next until several decades ago, but then a girl child was born with enormous spiritual power. She enslaved all of the youkai in the area, and with their support, took over the town she had been born in, turning it into a paradise for her followers. She has long since passed away, but to this day, the townspeople and the youkai live alongside one another in "peace"."

A secret santa gift for renkocchi on tumblr!

SkyGem: A secret santa fic for the lovely renkocchi on tumblr! I'm so so so sorry it took me so long to get this up, my dear! It ended up being a lot longer than I expected it to, so I split it into two chapters.

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Natori Shuuichi is 10 years old when he hears about Yatsuhara for the first time.

"A cursed, unnatural place," his father says with a sniff of disdain. "It was a town as normal as the next until several decades ago, but then a girl child was born with enormous spiritual power. She enslaved all of the youkai in the area, and with their support, took over the town she had been born in, turning it into a paradise for her followers. She has long since passed away, but to this day, the townspeople and the youkai live alongside one another in "peace"."

The sneer on his face as he says the word peace, and the tone of his voice as he tells the story is more than enough to tell the young Shuuichi what his father thinks of the girl and her town and her followers. He refuses to say any more on the subject, no matter how much Shuuichi begs him to, and so the young boy is left to find the answers to his curiosity in other places.

Shuuichi is 13 when he finds a book in his family's warehouse about the powerful wards around Yatsuhara, set by Natsume Reiko herself – wards that hide the town and its people, that protect their unnatural way of life from the eyes of the outside world, that make it nigh impossible for a human to find the town unless they have the blessings of its inhabitants.

Shuuichi is 14 when he overhears his father talking to a guest about the Book of Friends – a ream of contracts between Natsume Reiko herself and the countless youkai under her command. It is a forbidden technique, his father warns when he notices Shuuichi listening in – the contract binds a youkai by their _true name_ , making it impossible for the youkai to disobey the holder of the contract. No one knows the whereabouts of the Book, but countless exorcists across Japan have been searching it ever since Natsume Reiko's demise. He can't help but hope it's never found, or else not until long after he himself has passed away. It sounds like a dangerous weapon.

Shuuichi is 18 when he learns about the countless crusades the Matoba Clan has led against the town of Yatsuhara. He learns that the Matoba Clan has been steadily weakening the wards protecting the town, and that the enormous power of the wards have in the end become their downfall – without the vast amount of spiritual power Natsume Reiko had possessed, the townspeople are unable to strengthen the wards themselves. It is only a matter of time before the wards fall. Shuuichi thinks he should be relieved, that the unnatural ways of Yatsuhara will soon be put to a stop.

Shuuichi is 21 when he starts hearing the rumours that the grandchild of Natsume Reiko has returned to Yatsuhara, and with him, the notorious Book of Friends. He makes sure to keep his distance from the Matoba Clan after that, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire as they realize that all their hard work over the past decades will soon be wasted. The grandchild's spiritual power is said to be even stronger than his grandmother's, but he is entirely untrained. It will take several years, at least, until he is able to bolster the wards his grandmother had put in place, and the Matoba Clan redoubles their efforts to bring down the wards before that can happen.

Shuuichi is 23 when he discovers a teenager in the woods surrounding Yatsuhara.

* * *

He's walking along the shimmering wall of the wards, lost in his thoughts. It's not his first time here, and it's not going to be his last. Shuuichi has been enamoured with the strange little town ever since he'd first heard of it when he was a child, and maybe it's foolish of him, but there's a part of him that has always wanted to see what the town is actually like, to see if it's actually as bad as everyone says it is.

Sasago and Urihime definitely think he's out of his mind, but he's never particularly cared about their opinions – he just keeps acting however he likes, and trusts that they'll be around to save him if he finds himself in over his head.

So he's not too alarmed when a gangly, humanoid youkai comes dashing through the trees, breathing heavy and robe slipping off one skinny shoulder. Its paper mask has slipped to reveal a single green eye, and it's looking back over its shoulder, as if it's being chased, so it doesn't see Shuuichi in time to stop itself from slamming into him with a force that knocks the air out of both of them.

With a grunt of pain, Shuuichi staggers back a few steps, feeling his back thud painfully against the wards, which refuse to let him through.

There's a gasp then, as the youkai seems to realize it's run into someone, and it quickly scrambles back, already stammering apology after apology.

Shuuichi lifts a stand to stop his shiki from attacking the poor thing, which clearly hadn't meant to run into him. Once he's caught his breath, Shuuichi turns to study the youkai that had run into him, and the first thing he notices is that it's too _clear_.

Every strand of flyaway silver hair clinging to his forehead with sweat or sticking up at odd angles, every wrinkle in its simple white robe, which has fallen open to reveal jeans and a t-shirt underneath, everything is all sharp lines and defined edges.

Shuuichi's spiritual power is considerably strong, but never before has he seen a youkai so clearly, and that's how he realizes-

"You're human-" he gasps at the teenager, whose breathing has slowed by now, and who seems to be staring at Shuuichi with the same shocked expression reflected on his face.

The teen who is dressed like a youkai stares at Shuuichi for a moment longer, contemplating, before reaching up to tug the paper mask from his face. He's young, maybe 15 at most, and his gaze seems to be switching between Shuuichi, and the forest behind him.

"I am," he finally answers, his voice guarded, and doesn't offer up anything else.

"Why are you dressed like a youkai?" Shuuichi asks. "Are you an exorcist's apprentice? Why are you fooling around so close to the border with Yatsuhara? Don't you know how dangerous it is?"

The boy, who had looked mildly curious at first, suddenly clams up at Shuuichi's questions, and his expression grows frosty.

"Are _you_ an exorcist?" he asks, edging slowly to the side and flicking his eyes once more over Shuuichi's shoulder.

"Of course," replies Shuuichi, raising an eyebrow. "I am the young master of the Natori Clan. Now tell me, what Clan are you from? I'll have to inform your master of what you-"

"I'm _not_ a part of an _exorcist_ clan," the boy says, cutting him off in a voice brimming with disgust. His robe is slipping from his shoulders, and as he takes it off, he takes another step to the side.

Shuuichi steps to the side as well, so that he's still between the teen and the border. There's a nagging suspicion building inside him, and he's about to ask another question when suddenly, there's a blood chilling howl from the forest behind the boy.

The boy startles badly, whipping his head back around in the direction he had come running from.

Whatever had been chasing him before seems to terrify him, and when he turns back to face Shuuichi, he looks like he's made a decision.

Reaching out, the boy cups both sides of Shuuichi's face, and in a hushed voice, intones, " _You who would protect me, hear my words. Grant entry to this son of the House of Natori, for he has proven trustworthy."_

Silver hair floats as if in an unseen breeze, and the wards that Shuuichi had been pressed back against suddenly melt away, sending both he and the strange child tumbling to the ground.

He stares with wide eyes as Sasago and Urihime, who had not been allowed past the wards, pound at the invisible wall separating them from their master, screeching at the tops of their lungs.

Shuuichi scrambles to his feet, almost walking right back out to calm his worried shiki, but a surprisingly powerful hand on his arm stops him just moments before an enormous beast comes barrelling through the trees, and slams itself at the wards.

"You should send your shiki away," says the boy, letting go of his arm, and Shuuichi turns his head back to see that all the terror of a few moments prior had fallen away, and the boy was calmly running his hands through his messy hair in an effort to tame it.

"Wh-huh?" he asks, dazed and more than a little confused about what exactly was going on.

"Your shiki," says the boy, turning to look back at Shuuichi with a raised eyebrow. "None of the youkai on this side of the wards are going to hurt you, so you might as well send them away so that monster out there doesn't hurt them. In any case there's no way I'm letting them through as well. It's already bad enough that I had to grant entry to an _exorcist_ of all people.

Shuuichi stares back at him for a moment, still trying to get his thoughts straight, before finally turning back to his enraged shiki and waving them off. They hesitate a moment, not wanting to leave him alone, but they're nothing if not well-trained, and in the end they obey, disappearing in a puff. No doubt on their way back to the Natori Clan's main headquarters.

As he turns back towards the child, Shuuichi sees that he has already started walking away, and hurries to follow after the strange boy.

"Why _did_ you let me through the wards?" Shuuichi asks the teen, who is making no secret of his distaste of his new companion.

"Even an _exorcist_ doesn't deserve to die at the hands of a rabid youkai," the teen answers him grumpily, looking away, and Shuuichi can't help the startled laugh that escapes him at that.

"You're actually pretty cute, aren't you?" he asks, reaching out to ruffle the boy's hair.

"I am _not_!" the teen says, swatting Shuuichi's hand away. "Anyways, that beast is probably going to be sniffing around the wards for a few more hours, so you probably won't be able to leave any time soon. You can come into town, but you better behave yourself, okay?"

Shuuichi smirks, giving in to his temptation to tease the poor kid.

"And if I don't?"

"I'll have you ejected from Yatsuhara, whether the beast has left or not," the teen says, deadpan. "The people here have been good to me since I came here a few months ago, and I won't have you causing any trouble for them."

Amused, Shuuichi raises his hands in surrender.

"I'll behave!" he promises. After all, he's never quite believed what all the other exorcists said about the dangers of Yatsuhara, and now that he's gotten the chance of a lifetime, the chance to see the town that has enamoured him from the moment he'd heard about it, there's no way he's doing anything to jeopardize it.

"So, you haven't always lived in Yatsuhara?" Shuuichi asks the teen in an effort to make conversation as the path they're following finally exits the forest and starts winding through fields bursting with flowers.

The boy shrugs.

"I grew up in the city," he says, and he's quiet for so long afterwards that Shuuichi thinks that's all he's going to say. But after a long moment of contemplation, he continues, "My parents both passed away when I was a young child, and my father's relatives started passing me around amongst each other. I suppose all the "lies" I tell about the things I see were too much for them. None of them wanted to keep me for more than a few months."

He shrugs nonchalantly, trying to play it off as if he doesn't care, but Shuuichi can see the tension in the set of his shoulders, the clenching of his fists.

"Eventually, some distant cousins of my father found out about me and took me in," the boy says, and his tone grows noticeably warmer, his lips turning up into a soft smile. "They didn't even know I had the sight until _after_ they'd brought me back to Yatsuhara," he continues with a little laugh, and Shuuichi can't help but smile in return, relief flooding through him. He'd be surprised at the uncharacteristic surge of protectiveness that rises within him for a boy whose name he doesn't even know yet, but the teen is so sweet, so caring, Shuuichi is more surprised that there could be anyone out there who _didn't_ immediately love him.

"By the way," says Shuuichi, "I don't think we've introduced ourselves yet. I'm Natori Shuuichi."

The boy smiles, and responds in like.

"Natsume Takashi. A pleasure to meet you."

* * *

Skygem: I hope you guys liked, and please do leave a kudos and a review on your way out! The second and last chapter should be up tomorrow, or Monday at the very latest!


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